Any Musicians Using an iPad?

I bought an iPad2 recently, right after the preorders for the new IPad happened. I got mine for $360 open box at Best Buy. I had just discovered a very usable wealth of serious music apps that could be used for everything from recording, sequencing, sound design, synthesis, beat making...whatever. And for a fraction of the cost of some big programs or pieces of hardware.

I play guitar and bass primarily, but I like to produce all sorts of music styles. The touch interface works so well for so many functions.

It's to the point I can see adding another iPad down the road, just to have two of them docked on an I/O board like one of the many Alesis boards for iPad (drummer, mixer, guitar amp, I/O board), and going into a computer DAW.

It really is an amazing studio on the go. What helps is a lot of apps follow a couple of great Audio Copy/Paste protocols, so you can easily move audio from one app to another and build on what you've started.

I'm just amazed at what you can do on the iPad with music...pretty much everything you can on computer, just in small scale.

For guitarists, you need something like the Apogee Jam or Sonoma WireWorks GuitarJack 2 to interface with, but you get pristine sound quality. You can literally make whole demos and beyond by shopping for the tools that are right for you.

And for cheap (when it comes to music gear, right?) - I have spent 60 or so bucks on apps, and I'm loaded. Plus I have an IPad. It's like I bought a new instrument, portable studio, and tablet, all in one.

Music gear and software companies are falling all over themselves to get a piece of that market. Not only are there staggeringly good production apps around like the ones you listed, hardware is constantly being designed to turn the iPad into an amplifier, pedalboard, beat sequencer, etc etc etc.

You said it right: you bought a new instrument. Modern musicians- and old ones as well- would do well to start seeing their computers and iPads as musical instruments instead of 'wireless devices'.

Next month friend of mine is moving back to my island. he ran the Apple retailer on the Big Island, and will be running the one on Maui. He was the in-house Logic expert in the Nashville MacAuthority store. And BOY does he love iPads! He wants to start a band project immediately after moving here and intends to build it around the iPad's capabilities. This is interesting to me because I'll be the bass player and I happen to be getting all into organic dubstep wobbles. I hope we can meet in the middle and make something nice... we're both old farts with stylistic hangups tryin' to prove that we still rock.

Problem with Ipad is that they haven't reached the processor/memory requirements to be the workhorse of a serious DAW. There is promise. Friend of mine raves about his Pro Tools remote controller app.
I use a particular sound-pad app quite a bit on stage as well as a theremin app that is fun.
I have a few IK recording/modulation apps but the iPad just doesn't have the muscle to run even those on a wide open level.

Hell in a few weeks I'm replacing my old Mac Pro to accommodate PT10 and all of the necessary peripherals. Even the old quad core and 6g of ram isn't enough at times..
It's going to be a damn fortune.. ugh.

Avvie - yeah, the companies are going design-ballistic for the iPad. I was going to jump in on the Alesis I/O dock, but then I found the Sonoma and Apogee products, and learned my Digitech GNX4 will work via the camera dock. Still drawn to the Apogee and Sonoma products for the converters....

I'm quite jealous of the project you guys will be putting together. I read about some bands wanting to put together entire albums (to a point I'm sure - creatively) this year. Seems plausible enough.

Creeping-Cruds - true about the power. It can't replace a Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, Ableton per se, but I was thinking about people using, say, a Sonar, Mixcraft, Fruity Loops, say 7 or so years ago, and I think the iPad is past that point. Dual-core A5. I'd say it can't replace today's DAW, but it can be a very good pro travel companion. I've made some tracks just shy of 8, added effects, mixed it. No bogging down, no clipping.

I've already planned to combine parts created across apps into a larger DAW. But I am impressed I can build and edit a substantial multipart track on its own and it be what I would call "formidable." The second track I composed, the first I let my wife hear, she said sounded professional. And I don't use anybody's loops. Wouldn't touch the stuff. When my wife says that, it's all good.

With the family, it's hard for me to play out, so I'm keen on doing everything myself. I enjoy the workflow I get on the iPad, especially for complicated functions. I can do everything in a hurry, pretty much. That's what's really so valuable. Less time making, more time sharing.

I'll end up with two before it's over. I can already tell. To have the flexibility to open a combination of instruments, environments, controllers and workspaces is pretty, um - ridiculous? Amazing? Mind-blowing?

It's almost like making music inside the Star Trek: Next Generation holodeck, pardon my Geek. It's that good.

true about the power. It can't replace a Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, Ableton per se, but I was thinking about people using, say, a Sonar, Mixcraft, Fruity Loops, say 7 or so years ago, and I think the iPad is past that point. Dual-core A5.

Consider:
Logic 7 and 8 could run on a G4 and a 1 GHz Intel mac Mini, respectively. Hell, I'm using Logic 8 on an old Mini right now. In no time you'll be able to do anything worth doing on-the-go with an iPad if you can't already. Now, I'm no Luddite, but I don't see any reason why you would want an iPad to replace a desktop DAW... you need a room with reference monitors and a masterable environment; but as a controller or interface for the desktop DAW?...oh heck yeah!...

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